UK Waste Summit told there is still work to do

At a 'waste summit' in London, Mr Benn will tell council leaders they have done well to step up recycling from 8% to 37% in the past decade, but that another 'big step' is required.

Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, says it is time for a radical rethink: 'We can't keep producing large amounts of rubbish and putting it in holes in the ground... it's producing greenhouse gases which are contributing to a problem we have to solve, we are throwing away things that have a value.'

'We have been living in a 50-year bubble in which we thought we could throw away things without regard to the consequences. It has got to change.'

There are already tough European rules in place - and fines - designed to drastically cut the use of landfill. Now the government is calling together local authorities to tell them they must do more.

Latest government figures illustrate that we in UK send more than half of our waste to landfill. That is a huge 62 million tonnes a year in England alone. Now the aim is to reduce landfill by at least 50% over the next 10 years.

View Full Article 13^th October 2009

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